Kevin Hart Gets the Bubble Guts [VIDEO]
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Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of What Now with Trevor Noah. On today's episode, I sit down with comedian and international movie star, the one and only Kevin Hartz.

And I'll let you know now, I always have fun conversations with Kevin Hart, but this conversation may have been one of my favorites. I think we get into comedy, life, and everything that makes Kevin Hart who he is in some really interesting ways. I really had a great time chatting to him, and so I think you'll enjoy the conversation too. ♪

This is What Now with Trevor Noah.

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He changed my fucking cuffs too? He comes in here with his people, he takes all my shit. Huh? That's what he does. Give me a hug, man. How you doing, big guy? Look at him. Look at him. He fucked up my backdrop. What happened to our stuff? Sit down, Kevin. Sit down. Hi, Barry. How are you? Oh, my God. All right, I'll go.

I'm ready, Trav. Is this how you dress every day? This? Yeah. How far do you live from here? I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about it. They make me drive so far because I do it because I sacrifice for my team. I'm in Calabasas, so it takes me an hour and 15- You come in every day? I come in. When I'm here, do I come in every day? Yeah. So it's an hour and 15 to come in? Hour, because I'm leaving during traffic time, but if I wait, then it's like a 35-minute ride. No traffic, 35 minutes. That's terrible. Are you going to get a drone?

A drone? Yeah. Why am I getting a drone? You haven't seen the drones that are coming out? That you can fly inside? They'll be coming out in a few years. There'll be little drones that you can fly in. Why do I want to fly in a drone? You don't want to be in traffic, Kev. Why can't I just... Oh, wait. You're talking like the drones are just like... And you can just go above traffic. You're going to be in a drone. I can see you.

Now, I'm not going to lie to you. I promise you right now, you're going to be in a drone. If you're telling me that it's not going to fuck up my clothes and I can get in a drone, I'll do it. If you're telling me I can get in a drone. You know, most people would worry about their health. No, no. They got to come with some type of, they got to have airbags.

That drone going to have air, man. I think they do, actually. I think they do. Before we start, how's your tour shit going? Everything great? It's going good, man. Good for you, man. You're back on now. I'm like, I'm warming up. You're in like cooking mode. Yeah, I'm cooking. No, you're not warming up. You're in cooking mode. It's good. You can always feel, you know what's funny is you can always feel when a comedian is, so I feel like comedians have three stages. We have, will I ever be funny again? Then we have-

cooking mode where you're excited and you feel like everything's coming together. And then you have this material is boring moment.

I need to find a new job. That's at the end of... Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's like at the end of... You want to tape just before that. You got to go. But that's why I always tape my special early though. Like when I'm... What do you mean early? Like how early? When I'm in... If I'm on tour, because you know I do... You know, I'm probably 160 shows when I tour. So when I'm at like... When I feel the peak of the set, when I'm laughing at the jokes... You do 160 shows? Dude, I do a lot of shows, Trey. Wow. Because my process starts comedy clubs...

Back to comedy clubs. Back to theaters. Then I'll go arenas. Wait, wait, why are you going back? What went wrong? Nothing went wrong, but you do it to make sure like, all right, let me make sure I'm not jumping out the gun too fast. Okay, okay, okay. Because once you start killing the theaters, that means I should destroy in the comedy club. I remember talking to Dave years ago. There's a time when Dave Chappelle, for those listening, Dave...

never used to want to do arenas. I did it. And then he, and then he, I mean, obviously everyone wants to see him. So now he has to, he has to do bigger venues. I, I did it. But you, you, you definitely lose something. I, I sparked, I sparked the arena bug. Wait, you, you, you did that? Dave, absolutely. I sparked it with Dave and Chris, right? I said, So I, I blame you. For Dave doing arenas. Yeah. And, and Dave, not only, Do you prefer arenas? I got a gan of the Trev.

I got to be honest with you, man. I do. But let me tell you why. Hear me out. Hear me out why. And I bet when I say this, you go, you agree. And here's how I got Dave. It's how I got Dave bit with a bug. I said, listen to me, Dave. The beauty of doing the arenas when you're a good comic is turning the arenas into an intimate environment.

Okay. You can turn it into... You can get close. You can never turn it into... Oh, my God. Kev, you can never turn it into... Oh, my God. Kev. Oh, my God. The thing about arenas is I always feel like the laughter's not happening in my section. Have you ever sat in an arena...

You always feel like that section, you're like, who are those people? Yeah, those people have a good time. What jokes are they getting? They're having a good time. They're really laughing. And when you go there, they're not really laughing as loud as you thought because arenas have this weird... Because the sound is not designed for laughter. It's designed for the basketball game or whatever game is supposed to play there. Whereas when you're in a theater...

It always feels like every single laugh is coming from every single person, no matter where you're sitting in the room. Can I tell? Okay. So this is where your friend, Kevin Hart, the overthinker, goes ham. Okay? Think about my production. Yes. I think about every aspect. Excessive, I must say. Very. Excessive. I mic the audience. So the same way you can hear me on a microphone. You can hear the audience. You can hear the audience laughing.

So I'll do, I'll probably do like eight mics, maybe eight to 10 mics. So that the audience can hear the audience. You can hear the audience. Oh, I like that. I need to find what section the mics are in so I can just shout comments in your show. Yeah, so you can just shout out. I know the mic is here, Kevin. I can just find the mic and just shout things out. I know you put a mic here. You're not smaller than real life.

Just shout things up to the microphones. I'll just be the guy heckling in a 10,000 seat arena. I'm gung-ho on making that experience the best. But here's what you guys did. You do love that. But here's what you guys did. You love being the best of the best of the best of like, you have this weird, where did you get that from, by the way? Did you play a lot of sport when you were a kid? Like you're ultra competitive. Yeah. But like you're ultra competitive as if you also played sports where you have to play against yourself.

That's the competitive, that's the biggest person I'm competing against. Like, I've never been competitive against my peers. I've been envious. No, you're competitive against your peers. Come on, Kim. I'm envious. I've never been competitive. I'm envious of my peers. And I've said to myself, in my competitive nature, oh my God, man.

That's such a good writer. Such a great writer. Such a great joke teller. Such a great storyteller. God, I got to get back in the lab. I got to really raise the bar for myself because I'm so blown away by

by what this particular talent has put on display or what this particular talent has put on display. I'm envious of your political humor. I'm envious of how you can go in between political humor and then go into a space of travel, culture, different ethnicities, your stance in tech. You're far too kind. I'm envious of that because that's not my thing. So the thing that others do at a high level is,

To be envious is the biggest compliment. That's the biggest compliment because I'm like, man, I wish...

I could operate like that because if I could, oh my God, that would be another dimension that I could get to. Right. Yeah. I don't have that dimension. Hence why I stay away from it. You don't see me ever doing political humor. My favorite political bit of yours. And I know it, it wouldn't be considered political, but I think it was way more political than anyone would ever think is the bit where you were talking about being sucked into a black lives matter protest. Black man in the middle with a bullhorn going off.

Black lives matter. And if you don't think they matter, then you're part of the problem. And today we find a solution. The solution is death. Every black person that showed up here today is willing to die. We will all die today. We don't give a fuck about life. If you black and you here, it's because you came to die. If you black and you in this circle around me, it's because you ready to die first. I look down.

I'm in the fucking circle. I said, wait a minute. That's not why I came. I didn't come for that. That's not why I'm here. Can I tell you something? True story. Yeah, but what I loved about that bit was whether it was intentional or not, it told a very true story about how so many people get sucked into the allure of appearing to be what they're not. And now you just, that speech that you gave. You're in it. You're in it.

I don't even remember. I just remember trying to repeat it to my friends. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It ain't going to... What did you say? It ain't going to... You already know what it is. Now I got to give a speech. You ever say something and while you're saying something, you realize you're not saying nothing, but you got to keep trying to say something even though you know it's nothing? That was my fucking speech. This is my speech word for word. Verbatim, this is my speech. Y'all already know what it is. And what it is is what it's going to be.

It ain't going to be what it is. It ain't going to be what it is. You win it. I still say that to my friends just randomly. I be like, hey man, it ain't going to be what it is. It ain't what it was. Yeah, man. It ain't what it is. But you know what it is. That joke was so dope for your people watching, listening. It was dope because, to my point, I don't do political humor at all. Yeah.

It was about getting sucked into the thing that you think you're supposed to do. Yes. And I was like, man, you know, everybody around me, you know, giving this thing energy. And I got a feeling about it. I'm going. You know, can I tell you one of the hardest things I think people struggle with?

So one of my favorite movie scenes of all time, and I don't know why this left such an indelible impression on me, was... Did you ever watch the movie Devil's Advocate? Absolutely. It was Charlize Theron, Al Pacino, Keanu Reeves. Yes. There's a scene in the movie. So the plot of the movie, for those who haven't seen it, and I'll spoil it because you're not going to see it, whatever, is...

is basically Keanu Reeves plays this hotshot young lawyer. I mean, yeah, Keanu Reeves plays that lawyer. Charlize Theron is his wife, and they're this perfect couple, right?

They meet Al Pacino. He's running this law firm. Turns out he's actually the devil. The devil. Yeah. And Keanu Reeves is basically litigating a case that is terrible. But because he wants to be this lawyer, he's going to do whatever it takes. The conversation is basically, what are you willing to trade? If you're willing to trade your soul for everything. He doesn't do it in the end. But there's a moment where now he's the hero guy. Yeah.

And then a reporter comes to him and says, can I do a profile piece on you? And he goes, no, I don't want fame. I don't want any of this. And the guy goes, come on, a lawyer with a conscience, everybody will love it. And Charlize looks at him and goes, come on, baby. Come on, do it. And he goes, okay, I'll do it. Just like that. And they leave. And I'll never forget, the journalist turns into Al Pacino, looks at the camera, and he says a line that he dropped in the beginning. And he goes, vanity, my favorite sin. Mm-mm-mm.

I've thought about, I don't know how old, I just went to watch that movie because there was nudity in it. There you go.

Because at that time, you couldn't freely get nudity. I don't know if you remember these days, by the way. It was what I like to call it was accidental porn. Yeah. You did not see nudity when I was growing up. Like kids today, I feel bad for them because there's like a diminished joy in seeing nudity now. The random tit back in the day was huge. Are you kidding me? Oh, oh. Oh, pause it. That's...

Crazy. Oh, man. You had pause. Oh, what? I had nothing. I'm all about me. I had nothing. We just saw it and that was it. That was your moment. So that movie came out. I wasn't old enough to go see it. So I remember I would sneak into, I think it, I don't know what movie it was at the time. So I'd always find a movie to sneak into that I could then go out into another, you know what I mean? Like the reason I've seen parts of Titanic so much is because I used to use Titanic to go and see The Matrix. Okay.

You used that. So you needed a clean movie to go see the bad movie. You needed a clean movie to go and see the bad. So devil's advocate, I couldn't get. But anyway, I remember that line. And for my entire life, what I've thought about is how hard it is to not get sucked into doing a thing that you may start off having good intentions doing.

And then now stay in for the vanity side of it. And I think a lot of what people do in, like, let's say people start up on social media or even in the world. They go, I'm going to protest for a good cause. I'm going to say these things online. I'm going to get into it. It starts off from a good place, but then you get that hit.

You get that little hit where someone's like, you know, like you said, short king, do your thing. Come on, come on. We need. And you go like, oh, now you start finding reasons to do a thing that maybe you don't actually believe in because it's addictive, man. We are high off the feeling. Yeah, it's addictive. I'll give you another reality moment, right? I remember where, you know, this is like when the meme happened.

The power of the meme started, right? You know, like somebody would pass away and, you know, everybody's posting the meme. Everybody's posting the picture of said person, right? And I remember, you know, I was like, oh man, like I met that person like twice, man. Let me throw up a picture, you know.

and show some love right and I put up the picture and you know I remember you know I don't get into the comments like I have no desire to go and read thousands of comments under my page but the first one I like go back to like look at the picture and the first thing I see is you ain't even know him bitch and I was like dang I didn't I didn't really I didn't really know him I was like what does family probably think

Probably never talked about me. I look like a fucking idiot. I'm a follower. I'm following the meme craze. I go find a picture off of the internet and put up with this man after he passed away. And the first comment I read was, you ain't even know him, bitch. And I had to sit to myself. The best internet comments.

are the ones where someone unwittingly stumbles upon the truth. Yeah. Those are the greatest internet comments because most comments online are noise and trash and hating. And then there's love. Don't get me wrong. But let's say all the negative ones. It's just people who don't like you or whatever it is. But there will be someone who says something that is so true. Yeah.

Even though they're hating on you, you go, oh man, you got me. You got me. You hit the hammer on the head. I am struggling with that. I do need to figure that out. But the concept attached to throwing yourself in environments that are not just conducive for you or who you are.

You know, that was the template for that joke. And I love the honesty and transparency in it. But it also, like, acted as, like, a moment for me in my life where I was like, yo, I'm not doing that no more. In general. Like, I'm not putting myself in any position of discomfort based off of what I think people are.

could possibly think if I were to go through with the thing that they think I need to do. It's too much. That's too many thoughts about the thought that has not yet shaped itself into actually being the thing to think about. Like I'm not, I'm not, I'm not four steps ahead. I'm no longer that machine or, or entertaining the idea attached. What do you, what do you think changed in your life? I, I could be completely wrong. I'm taking a shot here. Okay.

Every artist has a moment in their lives where something happens, something shifts, and you see that shift apparent in their work. There is no denying that you came out with two of, I would say, the seminal specials when you first came out, right? Laugh at My Pain, Little Grown Man. I mean, they were, you remember, we all know what they were like. In comedy, we all know what those specials are like. There are specials where you can go like, that was it.

That's a timestamp. That right there, you can't. Kevin Hart becomes a movie star. You kill it in everything. I mean, I remember you being 40-year-old virgin. You were honestly, I think, one of the top cameo performers pound for pound I've ever seen. It was a real symbol. You would step into a movie.

And everybody in the theater would be killing themselves and nobody would know your name. Nobody would know who that guy was. They would just go, I love... Every time I tell people movies you've been in, they'll be like, he was in that? And then I go, that scene. Yeah, and then they go, oh, that was... Oh, shit, I remember. Oh, I didn't even know. Cameo man. So in a weird way, I sometimes think some people feel like you were this immediate overnight success.

Because in a strange way, they didn't remember all of these characters you were playing in all of these movies. Do you get what I'm saying? I mean, not only did I get it. Because it did seem like all of a sudden you were just the face of a franchise and the face of a movie. But I go like Kevin Hart was grinding away in three-minute segments in different people's movies. I was number seven and ten on a call sheet for years. For years. And I was fearless about my approach to the cameo.

I was fearless about my approach to getting the role. I can tell you it was crazy. In the Scary Movie franchise, right? Let me tell you how fearless I was. They were doing table reads and my manager was like, hey, Kev, they're doing these table reads. They just want some personalities to come and do the reads so they can see if the material's working. It's just a way for you to get seen by some people that do movies, comedies, et cetera. I was like, I'll do it, right? I go here and

I'm improvising during the table read. I'm going off script, coming back to the script. In my mind, I said, if I do a good enough job, whatever the role is that I'm reading, I may have a shot at getting the role. I leave the table read. Within an hour, my manager called me back. He says, Kevin, you didn't get that part, but they got a part for you that they want you to have. If you're into it,

They want you to come back and they want to talk about the part with you. Very small part. Cameo part. It was a friend. I talk about the part. Once again, fearless. Start improv-ing. Doing things that I feel the character could do, could say, whatever. They love it. Oh, my God. They write it in the damn script. Put all my ad-libs in the script. And it was, as we talk about the hit, the fucking drug. Oh, my God.

So if I present the funny material, at times, if it works and I'm still on par with story or script,

That can be my engine. That can be my entry point. So from that point on, I stepped up to all cameos. There was the scary movies. It was Along Came Polly. It was 40-Year-Old Virgin. It was Drillbit Taylor. I mean, I can go down a list. Jake in Progress. I was the guy that would come in for a scene. And then after that scene, you wouldn't see me no more. But I made it my business to

To put together what I would consider to be some funny, impactful moments in whatever the thing was. And I said, if I do enough of them, the cast and directors are all the same. Eventually, they got to say, this guy deserves a bigger part, or we should do something else with the guy. And I remember I got my fucking feelings hurt. It just didn't happen. I look back, man, I had like 12 cameos, all these credits, but nobody knew me from the credits.

Nobody fucking knew me like I was the guy. He was in Shit. What's your name? God damn it. Baby, what's the fucking... We just saw him. What's the shit he was in? Clapping, stomping, trying to come up. They never could get it. The motherfucker from the... He had on a hat. They saying stupid shit right in front of your face. And you're like, just ask me, man, so I can tell you. Nah, fuck it then. They just leave. The worst is when they say something

that diminishes you in front of you, while still giving you a compliment, by the way. They'll be like, he's the dude, he's the dude. That was a dumb motherfucker. And then someone will say something and be like, no, no, no, he's not that funny. No, no, he ain't that good. He's a stupid motherfucker. What's the stupid motherfucker we said? What's the motherfucker we said ugly as shit? Oh, man. Yeah, yeah. I remember saying, all right, I'm going back to stand-up. Focus on stand-up. Stand-up got big. After the specials,

After the specials, there was a moment where I transitioned from multiple shows at comedy clubs to multiple shows at theaters. And when it got to the multiple shows at theaters, I was like, they're going to have to come. Like the movies are going to have to come because people are showing up. So at some point it has to happen. Did they? The movies did not come in the manner I thought they would. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

The opportunity did. Oh, yeah, I like that. Yeah, I like that. And I believed in the opportunity. So the movie offers didn't happen. That's very religious of you. It's very spiritual. My mom would say something like that. The opportunity came. Yes. This story is amazing, but I often try and remind people that most of the time, the moral that you will take from a story of a person who was successful is the incorrect moral. If you get an opportunity to go to a table read...

Read what they give you. Oh, yeah. Don't do what I did. Yeah, don't do what this guy did. Don't do what I did. Don't do what Kevin Hart did. That's actually a really good point. Don't do what this... I can imagine people walking into rooms, getting a script, and they're like, we need you to help us work on this script. And you're like, bam, boom, pow. Oh, shit. Don't do what I did. Kevin, can we... This is Shakespeare. Yeah, I just thought maybe... And I made sure I set it up correctly by saying, I said, let me tell you how crazy I was.

I made sure I said it correctly. Like, that's how nuts I was. I went in there not thinking about the consequences. I'm thinking about how do I make my presence felt? Yeah. How do I leave a lasting impact? And, you know... That could have turned out so horribly. It could have.

I almost hope it would have, and I still hope you would have achieved your success, but I would have loved that moment to turn out terribly. Just for someone else to have a story where they go, Kevin Hart. Let me tell you my Kevin Hart story. This idiot. This guy. I mean, Jesus Christ. This guy. Talk about no respect for a writer. They're sitting in those agency meetings, and Kevin Hart, this guy comes in. I've never seen anything like, I mean, this guy. He couldn't, every word, he added his own. Ridiculous. This is, you know. No respect for the craft. He started rapping.

in the middle of, I mean, I remember there was one where I stood up. I stood up like one of the things like, yeah, yeah, don't check me. I was going for it. We're going to continue this conversation right after this short break.

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It provides the soothing throat relief you need. And even better, it's packed with flavor. So you can make every day more delicious and still feel great. Try Ricola Cherry Drops now. To find out where to buy it near you, visit Ricola.com. So you have these seminal moments in your stand-up. And then I feel like, could be completely wrong, and don't be offended when I say this, but I feel like there's a moment in between in your stand-up where it almost felt like

Kevin Hart was preserving Kevin Hart more than Kevin Hart was just being and doing Kevin Hart. And I say this as a comedian who's experienced it. That's not offensive at all. That's truth. So every comedian starts off in what I argue is the best place. You have nothing. You get on stage. The only thing you have is your comedy. And the only thing you receive is a laugh.

You don't even get money. People don't realize. In the clubs, we were getting $5, $10. Pookie still owes me $15. Yeah, you got to get it. It'll never happen. I've accepted this, Kevin. You got to get it, bro. I'm going to get mine. So that's all you're getting is the laugh and the confirmation of a joke working or not. That's it. Something clicks. You start to become successful.

Now, there's a moment where on this bell curve you have nothing, you reach the peak,

And now it feels like you have everything. You don't have everything, but it feels like you have everything because it's more than what you had. And now fear sets in and you go, can I tell that joke? Should I perform like that? Is that crazy? Do I switch up my style? Because comedians are always evolving. And now because you have the people at this point, you go, do I keep them at this point? What did I do that they liked? I guess I got to keep doing that. You're so spot on. Now, especially in this special,

I don't know what it is, Kev. You walked out and you feel even the baseball bat itself is such a huge thing. Y'all see this fucking bat in my hand. Bring your ass up to the stage. I'm gonna knock your fucking head off. I swear to God. Okay. We're sick of your shit. We're fighting back. Don't you come up here. Knock your goddamn head to the top of this arena. Don't you come up here.

It just feels like it's like, you know, I'm just like, what changed? Well, first of all, Trevor, it's a great question. All right. It's a great question. It's a great observation. By the way, to my point earlier, it's what you do very well. Here's the big change. The first hint of success, the fear attached to keeping the success clicks in immediately. Right. Right.

Oh, shit, we sold all these tickets. Goddamn. Whoa. Tour was crazy. Sold out all over. All right, well, shit. Tour's over. Well, I got to get back to the comedy club.

And I got to figure out what I'm going to do next. Yeah. Because I got nothing. After a tour is over, I want to make this perfectly clear to an audience watching, listening. You kill that material immediately. Yeah. I cannot recite a joke of old from any – it's killed. I blink and I fucking delete it immediately because it has no more value or meaning. The special is taped. The tour is over.

Well, what the fuck am I going to talk about next? Yep. So the scramble and figuring out what that will be is the scary scramble before you're like polished comedian legs present themselves. When you're the new comic and you're the new star, you're the new, like you're new. So although you got this light, you're not polished. You're not poised. You also not situated. You're not, you, you got a hit and that hit was great.

But you don't have an extensive contract. No. There's no guarantee to the next 10 years. There's no guarantee on anything. There's no guarantee that this next tour is going to sell as many tickets as this one. There's no guarantee that the next movie will be a hit. There's no guarantee that the next star and role will be the right role. There is no guarantee. By the way, at the time when I was coming up, what we might overlook is that I was in like, I was in a fucked up period of movies.

I was in a period of black actor bomb. Bye bye. I was in a period of, uh, y'all can't sell movies internationally. Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. And if these movies don't have any domestic success, bye bye. Yeah. Bad investment. I told you.

Black directors were going into director jail if they bombed. You don't get another shot. So the fear and stomach, the stomach bubbles. This kid just said the stomach bubbles. The stomach bubbles. That is a perfect word for them. Tim's story and myself, we did Think Like a Man 1, 2. We did Ride Along 1. We did Ride Along 2. Me and Will Packer did Wedding Ringer and About Last Night. I just named all six. By the way, we have more. Okay? Those six movies...

You're looking at the trajectory of Kevin Hart. There was never a comfortable moment for release. You would tell me bubbles the whole time? For Ride Along, me and Cube. I remember me and Cube being on a press tour. And we were like, well, we hope they come out because they done spent some money on this. If they don't come out. Damn. I mean, we ended up doing 140 million. Stomach release. Oh, my God.

Ride along too, man. If we don't do 140. Yeah. Oh, shit. It's a failure immediately. Oh, fuck, man. If we don't crack the code and surpass, because they spent more money, the pressure. Well, let's go to stand up where there is no budget. That's just, that's you. Yeah. You're, you're, you're,

You're roaming on stages for free, developing the material that you hope grabs the audience's attention enough that they'll laugh, love, so that you can then grow, announce a special. By the way, when you announce it, here come the bubbles. All shit. I hope they buy these fucking tickets. All right.

We never get over that feeling, by the way. We never get over that feeling. Yeah, but what I'm saying is what changed? What changed for me was I got to a place of not just success, but understanding. So my understanding now is, yo, I built a fan base. I built a global fan base of people that no matter what show up,

Because they go, I like that guy. And in that— But how did you develop the understanding? The understanding comes where the noise from the outside, you realize, is not noise. The things that you think— Can I throw something at you? Go ahead. I could be wildly wrong. I noticed the shift, or I noticed the shift happening most apparently after the car accident.

That was a different shift. Shift number one came with the understanding of I want to be a brand. I want to be a global brand. I want to own my brand so that my worry attached to the craft goes away because I control it. So once I saw that the idea of control is something that I could dictate if I owned it,

And I did that. And I was like, it's kind of like dope. You think that changed your level of fear? A thousand percent. Because I control it. So I'm using stand-up to set up the movie.

I don't know. I hear you, but I don't know. Because I feel like you had that drive before. I disagree. No, the drive. I disagree. Drive is drive, right? I don't. Yeah, but what I'm saying, what I'm challenging you on is this. And I say this as an observer and as a fan of yours. I think there's something you might take for granted. Because don't get me wrong, there's Kevin Hart, the businessman. And you're very apt at doing that. But sometimes, like as Kevin Hart, the human being,

You, like, you have moments where, and not to get too deep, but you have moments where, you know, because of how you grew up, because of your family unit, because of, you know, what it was like growing up with your dad as an addict, because it was like seeing your mom in her grind and everything. I think there are moments where you forget how much you push and drive yourself.

Because of the fear of losing all of the things that have helped you and your family to get to where you've gotten to? The fear, the fear is what motivates the complete sentences behind the drive. In other words, like... But what I'm saying is, what I'm saying is that fear has slipped and something happened and it cannot come from... I do not believe that the drive can be the reason for the drive. I believe, and I could be wrong, but I will fight you on this. Okay. There's something that comes. There is...

You know, when human beings are injured, Kev, there's something that happens. I remember talking to an amazing woman who's a disability advocate. And she was one of the people who led the revolution in America on just getting wheelchair access into venues. Things that you don't think were, like, you think of today as common. This was not normal. Being like, hey, can we get a ramp into, and people were like, whoa, come on, what is this now? We're going to have ramps for you? Whoa.

Come on. And people were like, we're in wheelchairs. And they're like, yeah, well, that's not my fault. We're going to build ramps for you. Oh, my God. This was a thing. I could not believe this when I watched the documentary and when I spoke to this woman, amazing woman. And we were having this conversation. It's very funny, by the way. And I said to her, I was having the conversation. I said, you know, disabled people. And I said, as an able-bodied person. And she said, no, no, no. She says, rather think of yourself like this. And I paraphrase. She said, think of yourself as currently abled.

Because she said the mistake a lot of people make is they think that disability is both a permanent and predictable thing that will happen to everybody. Yeah. But there is a form of disability that every human being is going to encounter at some point in their lives. It may be reduced mobility when you're older. And it may be, unfortunately, a disease or, in your case, a severe traumatic accident. A thousand percent. That both threatens your life and limits your ability to exist and be as a human being.

And Kevin Hart, if I look at your trajectory as a person, there are two things that were concurrently happening all the time. Growing, moving, you know, constantly pushing as a comedian and as a performer and doing the same thing physically. You've been playing sport your whole life. You've been pushing, growing, moving. It's been part of you. There is something that you have to grapple with.

When there's a possibility of paralysis, there is something that you have to go through when a doctor walks into a room and goes, hey, your spine may not be what it was before.

And I think you move on so quickly sometimes that you don't allow yourself to experience those moments. You move very quickly. I move very quickly. You're very good at it. Don't get me wrong. And I understand a lot of it. But the fear, you got to understand real fear, right? Like you come from a place of understanding where you can have real fear. When you come from the bottom-

And you start to experience things outside of the bottom that you didn't know existed or could be true. Yeah. And you continue to push and you experience more and you obtain more. The fear is going back to the bottom. Yeah. The fear. The further you get from the, this is the thing I always try to explain to people. There are a few things that are more terrifying than

than starting to do well when you've come from nothing and when your family has had nothing because you know how far the bottom is. I always tell my friends who've come from well-off families, I go, the one thing I envy that you have is

You do not think of your fall as being as far as mine is. So when you think of failing, you think of failing to, let's say, level five or six, because that's what your number is, your bottom is. I think of failing and I go, this takes me back to zero. Zero. Complete zero. Zero. That fear. Yeah. That logic, right? Yeah. When you start building, the comfort for me comes from, I'm building this.

So that if the fall ever happens, I got multiple things to grab on before I hit the ground. Oh, you're scaffolding. So think about when... We've got a scaffolding brother over here. Think about when you fall. You need to go to therapy, Kev. If you attempt to fall. You need to go to therapy. No, I'm not going to therapy. You need to go to therapy. No, and you just used the therapy word on me. You need to go to therapy. I see who you are. You're a scaffolding brother. I know you very well. Here's where you have to think.

Here's what you have to go and think, right? Everything Kevin Hart's about to say, I advise every listener to, I mean, listen to, but don't follow it. All right. Don't follow it. Okay. It works, but it's not a permanent solution. What Trevor is saying, Trevor is saying, hey, some people fall and they go, I'm not going to use my hands to break this fall. No, that's not what I'm saying. Let me finish. Some people go. Tell people about the scaffolding that you're going to tell them about this. Some people go, I'm going to

fall on my face. I'll even say it to you and you tell me if I'm right about what you're about to say. No, I'm going to say it first. Let me say it first or you tell me if I'm right. No, I'm going to say it first because you may try to say it differently and make it sound bad. So I'm going to say it first. Here is what it is, man. Like, I have watched people in our business comfortably perform

comfortably work and walk away with nothing. Okay. The fear that I have is attached to the walk away or the opportunity to actually sit with self and go, I have nothing. I have all these years in a business that I've given my all to and my all has done nothing but create success for

For the operating machines, studios, factors, puzzles, promoters, et cetera, all around me. And as the engine to that operation, I'm left with the shirt on my back or the moment of memory. Because of that and because of me seeing that, I said I refuse to not have anything. So what I'm going to do, I'm going to build as I go now that I've worked and I got to this point where, okay, I saw all the success, but if you go grown little man,

We go laugh at my pain. I was like, all right, well, the tours and all this stuff and the lights or whatever is great. I'm selling tickets. I'm paying money out the ass with commissions and everything, but I don't really have anything. The opportunity came up for

For me to go and put the special in theaters where they were like, you're going to take the money you just made and you're going to put it into the, you're going to fund that and put that into the theaters. Right, right. And I was like. But let's get to the scaffolding, Kevin Hart. So I said, I said, I'll own it. You're avoiding the scaffolding. No, I'm getting it. Here's the scaffolding. I said, but I'll own it. Okay. Okay. So I fell in love with owning that one thing. Okay. All right. And then owning that thing, I said, you know what? I want to build something else to own. Okay. All right. I want to own this too. Right. You know what? I got two things that I own. Okay. All right. Fuck that.

I'm going to own something else. Let me go figure this real estate shit out. All right, I'm going to own that. Hey, man, you know what? This company shit, it's not as hard as these people think it is. And if I build it correctly, maybe I can own it. I'm getting into venture capital. Let's go. Now, VC, where they investing at? And why I got to take, why I got to listen to you and I got to give you my, why can't I raise my own and own my own? Okay. Now, guess what? This carpet that we stand on comfortably one day will be pulled out.

One day these motherfuckers will come and go, that's it. And when they do, if you got shit that takes a long time to go down or if you got buildings that just rock a little bit, well, the security of mind, the security of self lasts. My security of mind, my security of self only lasts because I get to go, hey, no matter what,

You can't take what I built and what I built. It ain't under my name. It's under the brand. It's under the entity. It's under the infrastructure that I created that everybody else is ignored. So when I fall down, oh yeah, Kevin Hart may fall, but these buildings gonna fucking stand.

With or without you. And hey, when I'm done, although it may be rough, rocky, whatever, my fucking kids will look at them buildings and they're going to look at that shit. They're going to go, they're going to go, man, dad did some dope shit. My security comes from the understanding that the brand, the operation, the movement, the business matters.

Outside of Kevin Hart is a business that works. I appreciate that. And for that thing, I will never compromise on

my now feeling of comfort. So me going and selling tickets or not. Now it's a bonus. It's a bonus. Now it's a bonus. Now it's a bonus. I see what you've done. You see what I'm saying? You're scaffolding, brother. It's a thank you. I'm completely with you. No pressure at all. I hear you completely. There's no feeling attached to it. If I walk into an arena, right, today, and that arena is a quarter full. Because 50 Cent bought the front row. 50 brought the front row. You know what? When I'm at it, I'm like, man,

I'm going to give these people a great show, but you know what? I had a good fucking run. I had about 13 years at the top of it. Have you ever done a half-empty arena, by the way? No. I've done one. No. And can I tell you- I shouldn't have said that that fast. That sounded really asshole. Oh, no. That's fine. That's fine. Let's settle that down. I've done one. Ask me that question again. Kev, have you ever done an empty arena, a half-empty arena? Let me think. Have I done an empty arena? Um-

I don't know. I don't know if I have. I've had to think about it. I mean, I'm quite sure there's probably been some. We're going to go with the first team. I like that better. So I've done one before. This was in Springfield, Missouri. It was really the only venue that we could go to. Deep Republican, like, little, you know, enclave.

And my team said, this is it. We don't know the promo. You've never been. We don't even know what's going to happen here. We don't even know if you have fans in this place. Let's see what happens. I said, well, let's go. We went there. I think the arena, this is like a cut down arena, I think the capacity was 6,000 people maybe. Yeah, I think we sold 3,000 or 4,000 tickets. Okay.

Everybody, when I walked in, everybody looked like we were at a funeral. Not the audience. I mean, everyone backstage. You know when the promoter can't look at you? You know when, like, everybody is ashamed. Yeah.

And I'll never forget this moment. They also don't know what your ego capacity is in dealing with that. Yeah. How do you handle that? And so I said, oh, how did we end up doing? And they said, well, you know, we've tried to move some people down. We've tried to move things around. It should be a good show. It should be a good show. I was like, okay, amen. And I remember I was chatting to my manager, Derek, who works with me on the road, and

And I said to him, he said, hey, man, I'm sorry. You know, we didn't know what this market would be. And I said, Derek, it is so crazy how our perspective has shifted in the wrong direction. I said, there was a time when we would dream of selling 300 tickets in a place where I actually have fans. Now, everybody here is morose.

when we have sold 3,000 tickets in Springfield, Missouri. I was like, the fact that people have come out in Springfield, Missouri- It's a big deal. Is wild. And I said, if you think about it properly-

If you think about it properly, there are always more people not coming to your show than people who are coming to your show. So if you focus on the people who have come to your show. It's a bigger show. You've made it the best show. Man, can I tell you, I had more fun with that audience than I've had in a long ass time. Because they felt like they had chosen me. Because there's a weird thing that happens when an arena isn't full, by the way.

There's two things. One, there's a feeling of doubt. Some people in the audience are like, all right, clearly people know this. Somewhere else we should be. There's a moment of doubt. And then you as the performer have to come out and show the audience that they did make the right choice. And then the second feeling I find in those moments is the audience goes, no, we are specific in our choice. We've chosen Trevor Noah. Trevor Noah has chosen us. This is not for everyone. And so this experience becomes more intimate. There should be a feeling of pride.

Yeah, and so what I'm saying in that is the reason I say you're a scaffolding brother, which I don't mind. I have some scaffolding in me as well as a person. What does scaffolding mean? Don't just throw therapy words out there. No, this is not therapy words at all. This is not therapy speak at all. Don't assume your audience has been to the therapist as well. That's a very selfish therapist. This is not therapy talk at all. Scaffolding is definitely therapy talk. It's like tummy bubbles. What? Tummy bubbles is like someone would use that in therapy as well.

Okay. All right. Agree to disagree. Stomach bubbles? What I just said, that was not a therapy word. And I feel like... If you say tummy bubbles, I go, that's a therapy word? I would say gaslighting. That's a therapy word. You see, that's a therapy word. That's different. Don't go anywhere because we got more What Now? after this.

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This episode is brought to you by the podcast Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith. You know, one of my favorite subjects to discuss is technology. Because when you think about it, there are few things in the world that can improve or destroy the world like the technologies that humans create. The question is, how do we find the balance? Well, one of my favorite podcasts that aims to find the answers to these questions is hosted by my good friend, Brad Smith, the Vice Chair and President of Microsoft.

From AI to cybersecurity and even sustainability, every episode takes a fascinating look at the best ways we can use technology to shape the world. Follow and listen to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith on Spotify now. What I mean by a scaffolding brother is there are two ways

Or there are multiple ways, but I think two of the prominent ways for us to deal with the idea of having less or going backwards or diminishing in life or whatever it might be, the one way is to build scaffolding in our lives. And what that scaffolding is, is we go, okay,

If as Kevin Hart, I'm not a movie star, okay, what do I have? If as Kevin Hart, I'm not a comedian selling out, what do I have? Okay, so let me diversify. I'm going to build up these companies. I'm going to build up these institutions. I'm going to own that. I'm going to own this. I'm going to own this. I'm going to own that. I'm going to own that. That way, I'm in a situation where my eggs are not in one basket. And that means that if in one space, I am unceremoniously kicked out,

I still have everything else that I can go back to. I have basically created the scaffolding. You know, that's why they use scaffolding in construction so that they don't go backwards from that. It's like, all right, let's build around this thing to at least enable it to get to a certain place. And then we can sort of move back. But it holds everything where it needs to be while it is being built up. I think there's a great breakdown. Right. And I would encourage you to try it a little bit more. I know it's hard.

Don't get me wrong, because you're Kevin Hart and you have this mountain that you've built. But I would encourage you as Kevin Hart to also...

realize beyond the brands, beyond the buildings, beyond all of those things. And I would even speak on behalf of your kids. I think you take for granted that the buildings may not have as much of an impact on your kids as the building that you've done with them. I would say you're probably correct. It's not probably. Well, yeah, here's where you probably are correct. Right. You said probably again. Well, I'm gonna tell you why. So,

The idea of follow through early on, it presented itself and I never took it serious. Right. School, I fucked it off. High school, SATs, fucked it off. Didn't take it serious. Abba-gadabba the whole way down. I'm going to great adventure to go be with my friends. You know, applying to college, trying to get into college for what? Like, everybody, are y'all doing it? Fucked it off. Community college, two weeks. I'm out of here. This ain't for me.

Sneaker store, I guess that's what it's going to be. Everything... Did you work at Foot Locker? City Sports. City Sports. Everything that was positioned in front of me for me to take serious, that my mother tried her best to get me to understand, I fucked off.

swimming, successful in it, could have had scholarships, could have done whatever. I fucked it off. You swim? A phenomenal swimmer. Like at that level? Yes. I thought you had to be told to be a good swimmer. No, you don't. No, this is not even a joke. It sounds like it. It's not a joke. It really sounds like a dig, Trevor. Okay, let's go back. Let's go back. I gave you a chance. Let's go back on that one. You know, swimming. You swam? Yeah, I swam. That's amazing. What do you think it is about your physical makeup

That made you... What? Let's go to take three. Let's go to take three. You know, swimming. You swam? Yeah, I swam. When I think of swimming... Yeah. What do you think of? I find myself thinking of an archetype, a certain type of person. Yeah. And this is because maybe swimming has been...

There's been gatekeepers in swimming. And so you think of, you know, Michael Phelps. They look a certain way. Yeah, I know. Like we're, you know, what do they call it? When you share the same love and you do the same thing, you practice with each other. Yeah, but I think it's less about the drive. I'm talking about the physical aspects of the person. I've been next to Mike in a swimming pool. Yeah, yeah. You can't really tell us apart in that water. You can't. Yeah. It's all about the stroke. Wow. Yeah.

Yeah, my freestyle was amazing. Butterfly was phenomenal. Is that because you're pulling less? I don't know. What do you mean? What does that mean? When you say pulling less, what are you saying? It's all about strength, Trevor. And drag, right? Well, Trevor, it's about strength. Isn't it about minimizing drag? No, Trevor. It's about minimizing movement or wiggle, okay? Great form in swimming provides great results. Now, granted, I fucked it off because I was a cheater, all right? I was a guy that was...

cheating and practicing half-assing it. I didn't want to do shit. The point that I'm making is that everything I was supposed to do seriously, I fucked it off. So when I finally cracked the code and figured out the things that I could do, the fear is not fucking it off.

I like I fucked it off. Everything else I fucked off. So this here, I'm not going to fuck it off. I'm going to not only take it serious. I'm going to get so good at it and do it at the best of my ability. Oh, shit. Something else happened. Well, I'm not going to fuck that opportunity off either. Oh, shit. Another door. I ain't going to fuck that off. Everything now as an adult, because the adult that was giving me the information was right.

My mom was right. When did you first start realizing how right your mom was in life? When you realize how much you fucked up. When you look up and all your friends moving on and going away to college, they got scholarships, and you saying, when did y'all apply? When did y'all apply to do that? Kev, you didn't apply, and now you realize you're the ignorant child. Damn. You're realizing you're the dumb child. Do you feel like...

You got to the place where you got to reward your mother for the investment that she made in you. Because I know how hard it was for you losing her. Absolutely not. You didn't feel like in your lifetime? No. No. You don't think she was... Because she, just as you were rising... Fool's gold.

I want to say this was like my- Were you in Australia? Where were you shooting? I was in Australia, but I was trying to think of where this movie- This was basically like a big role for me because I was number three or four on a call sheet. It was like Matthew McConaughey or something like that. Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson. And this is a big role, so I went away to Australia. But this is like one of my big roles. Yeah, and your mom was sick at the time. She was sick at the time. So she didn't get to- The world of benefits came-

way after meaning like the real fruits of the labor so you know my mom didn't have a house my mom you know we didn't have grass my mom didn't have comfort in her life my mom wasn't able to relax and on her later stages of life she was sick so in the

picture of, I would love to provide my mom with the luxury item of comfort, of sit down and don't worry. But at the same time, there is a dual thought and dual feeling of, I kind of navigate through this business in a way where I

I'm not bothered or like ruffled easily by the ups and downs of it. And I truly do feel, cause I got the hand of on my shoulder. Yeah. Like I got, I got an amazing guiding light and an amazing like talent of processing information, processing moments. And that's good from your mom. Absolutely. On your, on your dad's side, do you think you were ever able to forgive him? Do you think, um,

I know you had an interesting and tumultuous relationship. You connected as adults. But there's moments where you even see this in your documentary, by the way, if anyone's keenly observing. You can still see that there are moments where your dad has this...

he had this hold over you. It's like, you know, it's like on the one hand, he's sort of holding you back. On the other hand, he's proud of you. And like most parents, he's limited in his ability to be perfect. Did you forgive him while he was still alive? Absolutely. I think, you know, my dad... Absolutely? Yeah. No, I only say this because I think it's tough and it's hard for us to think about these moments. Here's what I say, absolutely. Yeah? There's no reservation towards my dad. Okay, okay. There's an understanding, like,

Like you can't go back and change the things you did. Yeah. You can apologize and we can be grown and be men and move forward. But at this point, life wasn't about me. Like I'm okay. Yeah.

Focus on being a grandpa. Like, don't you don't worry about me at this point. And I'm telling them at face value, like, I'm good. I love you because you're my dad. I appreciate you for tabling the mistakes and the bad choices, by the way.

I got some of you in me. So my bad choices are in my fucking blood. Like I'm not the guy to your point earlier, the monk or the walking staple of perfection. I get where I come from. I get where I'm a mess and where I'm not. But what I do very well is process reality. And reality is you're my father.

I don't want to take that away. I don't want to change that. And your mistakes are great mistakes because they gave me great examples of what I shouldn't fucking do. Try my best to avoid that shit because look at the consequences of it. You've lived through your consequences. You've survived them. Yo, man, go be a dope ass grandpa. Tell your grandkids some dope stories. Go get some dope toys. Go put that time in over there because you're going to get more joy out of that.

Then you are going to get out of trying to redo or undo. When I'm telling you, I'm not looking back there. I'm looking up here. My joy is going to come from my kids going, hey, man, can we see grandpa? My kids are going to go. My joy is coming from my kids. That's beautiful. Like saying, dad, we want to go back and spend time with grandpa. That's beautiful. They don't know about your past. You get a new chance. You get an opportunity. Absolutely. To rewrite a script. That's your next version of Kevin. Yeah.

That's the next version. That's your son's child. My mom always said the reason they call them grandparents is because now you have a grand opportunity to be a different type of parent. 1,000%. Different levels of wisdom, understanding, compassion, all of it. My brother and my dad's relationship was a little rougher. They figured their shit out. My brother's pound for pound. The best thing that ever happened to my kids. My brother has taken the role of...

If I have to go.

He comes. I got to go on the road. My brother comes to the house. I got to go do movie or promo or whatever. My brother's out there. The feeling of love is never a void or never a missed opportunity. Now, four kids, four kids that all stand on. Oh, yeah. When dad's out here, uncle come out. Uncle helps us do this and that. My brother is the, hey, man, let me show you how to fly a kite.

You never do a boomerang. You never seen these old movies, Rascals. Kevin, you ain't showing Rascals or Little Giants. You've maintained the village, man. All the shit that you overlook, if you got a partner, you got a partner in crime that really understands you and has your best interests.

Well, I'm coming in and dad is the cool dad that loves us and wants to do all the cool stuff. The dope activities. We watch movies. We chill. But uncle, well, uncle got the activity game on lock. I love this. Dad, uncle, you know, uncle showed me how to throw a strike. You can't throw no strike. Let me see it. Throw.

Throw it. I bet I knocked that ball out the park. No, you're not. And my brother, throw the strike. I beat the shit out that ball. My kid's like, dad, that's right. You know why I did that? Cause your uncle ain't shit. Now we, we got a great rapport, but the fun, the energy, the energy comes from understanding of where we come from. So what you build is,

is ultimately a comfort of just simply what you can fall back on. And that fall back, what I want your listeners to understand, that fall back should be a feeling that we all have. After the pandemic, after the climate that we saw overtake our world, after we saw the economy shut down, what we all should have a little fear of, if it happens again, well, let me build something so I can fall. If you don't ever think about the fall, when you fall, you're not going to get up.

That's a real thing. You will not get up. And we're in a business of folded chairs. By folded chairs, it means so many people choose to no longer sit down on the chair. They say, you know what, fuck this. I'm going to fold this chair up and put it up. I'm done. And that comes from a mindset. It comes from a lack of understanding that you can create or build what makes you feel strong. If you want real strength,

Give yourself the bandwidth and mental infrastructure to feel as strong as you possibly need to go out and do the shit you want to do. Because now, fail or not, you feel good because you feel like you are investing into you and you can look back and see the shit. If I can say I own a pair of pants, well, those are my fucking pants.

They're mine. Can't take these pants from me. These are my pants. This is scaffolding. We're back to scaffolding, Kip. I need to do it. This is back to scaffolding. Well, call me the scaffolding king, okay? Because I'm going to build all that shit. He's the scaffolding king. Call it what you want. I got it. And I'm going to build it. Do not put all your eggs in one basket. My dream is to not even have eggs.

That's my dream. I may not get there, but it's my dream. It's my dream. Before I let you go. Before you say one more thing, I got to say this. You talked about it because you touched on it a little bit. When you talk about the fear as a comic, right? Let's like, of course, take all this personal shit out of it. Bill Cosby for a second. Did you just throw Bill Cosby in the end of a sentence? You'll see why.

Bill Cosby. You can't, okay. I can't. But can I just say. I said put it aside. Okay. I said that. But let me explain something. But I prefaced that. Let me explain something right now. You cannot just say at the end of a sentence. Yeah, Bill Cosby. You cannot go like, you know, let's throw the personal shit aside. We're going to, Bill Cosby. Yeah. So anyway. Okay. You have to warn me, prepare me. Are you right? All right. I'm about to say some deep shit, but it's going to start off as fucked up shit. There we go. You see? Okay. Are you ready? All right. Bill Cosby. Got it. So I was in Montreal.

And I forgot how old Bill Cosby was. He was performing at some little thing. Bill Cosby was, let's just call it 70-something. Okay. Came out and he sat on a stool. Bill Cosby started doing Bill Cosby. The comedy Bill Cosby. The comedy Bill Cosby. Got it. And there was a sold-out crowd at 70-something years old.

without any consistency in touring or like real dedication to the craft over the course of time. But at the old age of, the feeling and joy that comes from the laughter of a crowd is what we'll forever get high off of, right? And when I talked about being envious, I was like, man, I'm envious now.

that he still gets to feel that at that age. I hope and pray that when I'm that age, I still have the desire to go in front of a crowd and do the thing that I fell in love with. I hope and pray that

That my love for the thing I do continues. Because the fear to your point, you talked about the sets, talk about the joke. Am I funny? Am I not? Is this working? Is that not work? All these thoughts and thoughts that we have. But if you can beat all those thoughts and just maintain a high level of love for the craft and for the energy.

It will be attached to the people that have invested in you through the years. And I looked at his crowd. Those people were old as shit in that crowd. A bunch of old fucking people came out. And I was like, it's because they grew up on it. That's their life. Their life was like always. His fans have still rolled with him prior to. Until this moment, they're still buying tickets and excited.

Imagine as Trevor Noah and as Kevin Hart. Don't put my name in the sentence. Go on. Imagine. Well, I said you first. Imagine as Kevin Hart. You know I said you first. I put a gap. Imagine as Kevin Hart. It's your show. Imagine as Trevor Noah and Kevin Hart. We get to a place, man, and you look out and you see some old people still rocking with you. Right. What better feeling? I'll tell you what better feeling for me. I hear what you're saying. Because I understand the moral of your story. What you're saying is,

In life, be like Bill Cosby. Wait, no. Wait a second. That was the moral of your story. No, wait. You said no matter how old you get, keep doing it. This is what I heard you say. So now I don't agree with it, but because you're my guest, I don't argue with you. I think this is a forum for everyone to air their opinions. I personally would have just told that story and not said who the comedian was. I would just say it was like an old guy on stage who was a great comedian. You know what you're doing right now? You're scaffolding. Okay.

Don't be afraid, Kev. Those are just tummy bubbles. You relax. So I'll tell you what's great. Look, I'm not dismissing it. I mean this honestly. It is great to have that. But I think what would be a greater feeling for me as a human being

Is to have that feeling regardless of whether or not I'm on stage. Okay. Do you know what I mean? Okay. That's honestly what I try and hope to pursue in life is where I go, that thing on stage is beautiful. Yeah. It is a wonderful compliment to my life, but I genuinely want to feel like that. And I do in many moments now when I'm not on stage. And so I try and move through the world. You've been very active about voicing this. Like in our conversations, like-

You know me from the time. Even like with The Daily Show. But I loved even about The Daily Show. And I remember I walked away when we were talking. I was like, what an answer. Like, I was like, what? Like, wow. He's like, it was just time. He's like, I just, you know, I got to a point where I was like,

okay and i want to pursue something else yeah and you're like and i'm i'm so i'm trying to be the best liver of life i can possibly be now you're it's very genuinely it's genuinely genuine with all the peace i have and you know have great conversations with people before i let you go you're very busy man let me ask you this question i ask everybody on the podcast what now we meet kevin hart in this moment because it seems like you are perpetually building and perpetually expanding

I'd love to know what now, as you move into the next stage of doing everything. It's VC, it's banking, it's all of these things. And do me a favor, Kevin, I ask you this as a friend and as a human being.

don't ever release some shitty credit product that hurts black people and poor people. I'm not doing that. I'm looking at you on camera saying this right now. I will not do that. I'm just saying this to you right now, Kev. I don't have a credit card coming out. Yo, Kev. I don't have a... I'm letting you know face to face. I'm telling you that I do not. Your people love you? Yes, I do not. Do not screw us over. I say this to you at face value. I mean this, Kev. My whole relationship with my financial partner is built off of financial literacy. You remember I had a dream. You remember I even had a dream about you once. Yes.

So this is the weirdest dream I've ever had. One of the strangest dreams, right?

I had a dream. And this was before you released it. I had a dream that Kevin Hart came to me and he was like, Trev, we got to release a fitness drink. We got to release a protein powder. And then I said to you, I said, okay, Kev, I love this idea. I said, but what are the ingredients? Is it going to be good? And you said, fuck good. I said, man, Trev, who gives a shit if it's good? It's going to sell. We're going to do this. And I started crying.

This is the weirdest dream I've ever had. Because Kevin, we don't even roll like that. We don't even, like, we've always been brothers in comedy. You've always been wonderful to me. But we don't, it's not like we roll every day. People might have this false assumption. Yes. This was a strange dream for me to have. And I remember I woke up and I was like, Kevin Hart, why would I even dream about that? A few weeks, no, maybe like a few months later, you released... I released Vida Hustle. Vida Hustle. Yes. And I was like, oh my God, it's real. Yeah.

But then I tasted your tequila and you remember I called you about this. I don't know why I've been very honest with you from the time I've known you. I called you about the tequila. It's called a good relationship Trevor. No, no, no. But I mean, what I mean is like, it's like I'm more honest with you than people I've known for longer is what I mean. Right. With very few like threats. Very transparent. Yeah. Very transparent. And I remember I called you and I said, Kevin, I thought this tequila was going to be shit. It's actually delicious. And you said, well, first of all, I'm offended.

But why would you say that? And I said, well, because I just assume it's a celebrity. You're going to put your name on a thing. And then you said something. You said, Trevor, you said, I am trying to make everything I do be the best. You're like, I want to have the best tequila. Not the best selling. I want to have the best tequila. I want to have the best protein. I want to have the best company. So what now? What's Kevin Hart moving towards now? Well, Kevin Hart in third person. Other than therapy, because I know you're going to try that. Yes. What I will say I'm moving towards now is,

is finishing the sentences.

there's incomplete sentences. Oh, beautiful. So I have to put periods on the sentences and those periods are attached to the things that I'm building and the things that I'm building, the pressure I feel I put on myself is because I'm not just building it for me. I'm building it for the people that have invested into me and to the idea. So heartbeat and the level of success as a studio that I obtained to have, not for myself, but for all. The big what now is like,

The creative platform and opportunity for the stars of tomorrow. Like, I got my light. It's not going to get any brighter. The star is not going to get any bigger. But the platform for or the studio of, if I can be attached or a part of saying, come this way, and the people that come through that door become, man, man.

That's a fucking amazing way to pass the baton. That's beautiful, man. So right now, I just want to get as close as I possibly can to open up that next door that I don't have to go through. Yeah. But that those of tomorrow can. I love that, man. That's what I want. That's what now. I appreciate that, Kev. Trevor, I like talking to you, man. I love talking to you. I always enjoy speaking to you. This is really good. I think low key, I want to say that this was like...

your way of giving me a therapy session that you think I need. And I'm going to talk to you about it later. I think you just, no, I think you gas bomb me. What is that term? Right. Did you gas bomb me?

I think you gas bombed me. I actually like that. I'm a gas bomb people. No, for real, man. I appreciate you. I appreciate your transparency. I appreciate how you've always supported me. I always tell people the story and I never hold back. I go, nobody wanted to come on The Daily Show when I was starting. Everyone seemed... You know, like now, I hold an Emmy, people go, oh, it's obvious and well-deserved. Nobody wanted to come on that show. Nobody wanted to be there because they were like, if I...

People were like, if I say I'm with him, I don't know who he is, what he's going to do, how he's going to... I understand that fear. I don't even hold it against people. You were literally the first person who said, I'll do it. I will open this random African person's TV show after Jon Stewart. Absolutely. And I'll ride with it. And I'm eternally grateful. I was like, Kevin Hart,

And I get it. I was like, if he can support Bill Cosby, he can support me. Well, okay. Well, that's a weird way to end that. And I just want to say I appreciate you for that, man. Okay. Well, I feel like we can edit that last piece out. Yo, man, this was great. Thank you, yo. Fucking love you, man. Thank you so much. This was great. Yo, can I just tell you the funniest thing? We can cut it out or leave it in. The funniest moment was when I was pulling in into this place.

Security guard. He's like, oh, this is not your guy. The guy who like, there's someone who works outside. He's like, hey, yo, you that dude, man? What's going on? What's going on, Jeff? Hey, Noah, Noah. I'm like, hey, what's up, man? He's like, oh, what are you doing here? I was like, oh, I'm coming. He's like, oh, you're coming to Kevin Hart? I'm like, yeah. And he's like, oh, it's about the Cat Williams thing? I was like, no. No, man. He's like, what? No. Why would you? I was like, what are you? No, man. What do you think we do? Oh, y'all coming to meet about that? I was about to go down there. Oh, he calling in the troops? What?

What Now with Trevor Noah is produced by Spotify Studios in partnership with Day Zero Productions, Fullwell 73 and Odyssey's Pineapple Street Studios. The show is executive produced by Trevor Noah, Ben Winston, Jenna Weiss-Berman and Barry Finkel. Produced by Emmanuel Hapsis, Marina Henke, Jess Hackle, Natalie Pert and Chelsea Williamson.

Music, mixing, and mastering by Hannes Braun. Thank you so much for listening. Join me next Thursday for another episode of What Now?